JAKARTADAILY.ID – The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) received a visit from the elected Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. The two held a bilateral meeting at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, Monday June 6, 2022.
The President considered that making Indonesia the first country to visit Anthony Albanese after serving as Prime Minister of Australia showed the importance of relations between the two countries.
“I am delighted that Indonesia is the destination for the first bilateral visit of Prime Minister Albanese, after being sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia two weeks ago. This shows the closeness between the governments and people of the two countries," the President said in a joint press statement with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Previously, President Jokowi and PM Albanese had also met when Albanese was Chairman of the Australian Opposition.
"Prime Minister Albanese is not new to me, we met in 2020, and Indonesia was also the first country to visit when he was elected as Chair of the Opposition in 2019. Last Friday, we also had telephone conversations," said President Jokowi.
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Jokowi said that Indonesia-Australia already has two strong foundations in bilateral relations, namely the comprehensive strategic partnership that has been in place since 2018 and the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which has entered into force in 2020.
"These two foundations are very important for the two countries to continue to strengthen mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation," said President Jokowi.
Regarding bilateral issues, President Jokowi and PM Albanese focused on discussing economic cooperation. President Jokowi stressed the importance of expanding access to exports of Indonesian products with high added value to Australia, such as automotive.
"The first export of CBU (completely built up) cars made in Indonesia to Australia started last February and I hope that export access like this will continue to be open," he said.
The Head of State hopes that the implementation of the IA-CEPA, especially related to increasing opportunities for Indonesian citizens (WNI) to work in Australia, including increasing the working Holiday visa quota to five thousand participants per year.
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On this occasion, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would attend the G20 Summit which will be held in Bali in November.
"I conveyed to President Widodo that I would attend the G20 summit in Bali in November," said the Australian PM.
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